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Essential Papers on Narcissism
An essential collection on leading psychoanalyses of narcissism
Narcissism has recently been the focus of debate among professionals, in large part due to the controversies surrounding the world of Heinz Kohut and Otto Kernberg. Yet much has been written about narcissism throughout the history of psychoanalysis and this carefully selected collection brings together the essential work on narcissism.
The book first puts forth the major theoretical formulations - self-psychology, object relations, psychodynamics - and then explores diagnostic and therapeutic applications. The book offers landmark classic and contemporary contributions by authors such as Annie Reich, Heinz Kohut, Otto Kernberg, Alice Miller, Arnold Modell, and many others.
Narcissism has recently been the focus of debate among professionals, in large part due to the controversies surrounding the world of Heinz Kohut and Otto Kernberg. Yet much has been written about narcissism throughout the history of psychoanalysis and this carefully selected collection brings together the essential work on narcissism.
The book first puts forth the major theoretical formulations - self-psychology, object relations, psychodynamics - and then explores diagnostic and therapeutic applications. The book offers landmark classic and contemporary contributions by authors such as Annie Reich, Heinz Kohut, Otto Kernberg, Alice Miller, Arnold Modell, and many others.
- GenresPsychologyPsychoanalysis
491 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 21, 2024
It seems a long way from the acceptance of transience and the quasi-religious solemnity of a cosmic narcissism to another uniquely human acquisition: the capacity for humor. And yet, the two phenomena have much in common. It is not by accident that Freud introduces his essay on humor with a man's ability to overcome the fear of his impending death by putting himself, through humor, upon a higher plane. "When. . .a criminal who was being led out to the gallows on a Monday remarked: 'Well, the week's beginning nicely'," Freud says that "the humorous process. . . affords him. . . satisfaction." And Freud states that "humour has something liberating about it"; that it "has something of grandeur"; and that it is a "triumph of narcissism" and "the victorious assertion of . . . invulnerability." Metapsychologically, however, Freud explains that humor -- this "triumph of narcissism" -- is achieved by a person's withdrawing "the psychical accent from his ego" and "transposing it on to his super-ego."
Humor and cosmic narcissism are thus both transformations of narcissism which aid man in achieving ultimate mastery over the demands of the narcissistic self, i.e. to tolerate the recognition of his finiteness in principle and even of his impending end.
There is no doubt that the claim that the ego has mastered its fear of death is often not authentic. If a person is unable to be serious and employs humor excessively, or if he is unwilling to face the pains and labors of everyday living and moves along continuously with his head in the clouds, we will become suspicious of both the clown and the saint, and we will most likely be right in surmising that neither the humor nor the otherworldliness are genuine. Yet, if a man is capable of responding with humor to the recognition of those unalterable realities which oppose the assertions of the narcissistic self, and if he can truly attain that quiet, superior stance which enables him to contemplate his own end philosophically, we will assume that a transformation of his narcissism has indeed taken place (a withdrawal of the psychical accent from the "ego," as Freud put it) and will respect the person who has achieved it.
A disregard for the interests of the self, even to the point of allowing its death, may also come about during states of supreme object cathexis. Such instances (for example, as a consequence of an upsurge of extreme, personified patriotic fervor) take place in a frenzied mental condition, and the ego is paralyzed, as if in a trance. Humor and cosmic narcissism, on the other hand, which permit us to face death without having to resort to denial, are metapsychologically based not on a decathexis of the self through a frantic hypercathexis of objects but on a decathexis of the narcissistic self through a rearrangement and transformation of the narcissistic libido; and, in contrast to states of extreme object cathexis, the span of the ego is here not narrowed but the ego remains active and deliberate.
A genuine decathexis of the self can only be achieved slowly by an intact, well-functioning ego; and it is accompanied by sadness as the cathexis is transferred from the cherished self upon the supraindividual ideals and upon the world with which one identifies. The profoundest forms of humor and cosmic narcissism therefore do not present a picture of grandiosity and elation but that of a quiet inner triumph with an admixture of undenied melancholy.
Heinz Kohut, "Forms and Transformations of Narcissism"
Humor and cosmic narcissism are thus both transformations of narcissism which aid man in achieving ultimate mastery over the demands of the narcissistic self, i.e. to tolerate the recognition of his finiteness in principle and even of his impending end.
There is no doubt that the claim that the ego has mastered its fear of death is often not authentic. If a person is unable to be serious and employs humor excessively, or if he is unwilling to face the pains and labors of everyday living and moves along continuously with his head in the clouds, we will become suspicious of both the clown and the saint, and we will most likely be right in surmising that neither the humor nor the otherworldliness are genuine. Yet, if a man is capable of responding with humor to the recognition of those unalterable realities which oppose the assertions of the narcissistic self, and if he can truly attain that quiet, superior stance which enables him to contemplate his own end philosophically, we will assume that a transformation of his narcissism has indeed taken place (a withdrawal of the psychical accent from the "ego," as Freud put it) and will respect the person who has achieved it.
A disregard for the interests of the self, even to the point of allowing its death, may also come about during states of supreme object cathexis. Such instances (for example, as a consequence of an upsurge of extreme, personified patriotic fervor) take place in a frenzied mental condition, and the ego is paralyzed, as if in a trance. Humor and cosmic narcissism, on the other hand, which permit us to face death without having to resort to denial, are metapsychologically based not on a decathexis of the self through a frantic hypercathexis of objects but on a decathexis of the narcissistic self through a rearrangement and transformation of the narcissistic libido; and, in contrast to states of extreme object cathexis, the span of the ego is here not narrowed but the ego remains active and deliberate.
A genuine decathexis of the self can only be achieved slowly by an intact, well-functioning ego; and it is accompanied by sadness as the cathexis is transferred from the cherished self upon the supraindividual ideals and upon the world with which one identifies. The profoundest forms of humor and cosmic narcissism therefore do not present a picture of grandiosity and elation but that of a quiet inner triumph with an admixture of undenied melancholy.
Heinz Kohut, "Forms and Transformations of Narcissism"
October 16, 2011
An essential roundup of key writings on narcissism, sorted according to differing clinical perspectives. A good starting resource.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews